Casting machine with concentric channel shaft



J y 1969 D. B COFER ETAL 3,454,077

CASTING MACHINE WITH CONCENTRIC CHANNEL SHAFT Filed Feb. 13, 1967 SheetUnited States Patent US. Cl. 164278 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSUREThis invention relates to casting machines and more particularly to acasting machine having a casting wheel with a peripheral groove in whichmolten metal is solidified by coolant which passes to and from thecasting wheel in a plurality of concentric annular channels provided byone or more channel members coaxially positioned within the shaft meansused to rotate the casting wheel.

In those prior art casting machines in which the casting wheel issprayed with coolant, the cooling arrangements have characteristicallyused large quantities of coolant and have frequently not providedefiicient cooling of the molten metal. However, the solidification ofmolten metal in the peripheral groove of a casting wheel requires theeconomical and efficient cooling of the molten metal if practicalcasting of molten metal is to be achieved with casting machines.

It is for this reason that various other cooling arrangements forcooling the molten metal in the peripheral groove of a casting wheelhave been proposed and used with casting machines in the prior art.However, none of these other cooling arrangements have provided acasting machine which is entirely satisfactory.

This is because attempts in the prior art to avoid the excessive use ofcoolant and to achieve more efficient cooling of molten metal by usingcoolant in a plurality of channels within a casting wheel rather thancoolant sprayed against the casting wheel have generally beencharacterized by complicated cooling arrangements with an excessivenumber of liquid tight seals which require almost constant maintenanceto prevent the loss of coolant and to achieve maximum efficiency. Thus,the resulting prior art casting machines have been complicated anddifiicult to maintain.

The invention disclosed herein is a casting machine which overcomesthese and other difficulties encountered in the prior art in that itprovides a compact casting machine in which the delivery of coolant toand from a plurality of coolant channels positioned in the casting wheelis achieved without requiring the use of an excessive number of liquidtight seals. Thus, the invention provides a casting machine which is notdifiicult to maintain even though it also provides for the efficientcooling of molten metal with a minimum loss of coolant.

These improvements in a casting machine are provided by a castingmachine in which the shaft means by which the casting wheel is supportedand rotated and a plurality of channel members define a plurality ofannular channels which serve with a plurality of tube members toselectively join a plurality of fixedly positioned chamber members and aplurality of coolant channels in the casting wheel. The coolingarrangement provided by the "ice invention is such that the only liquidtight seals required between stationary and moving elements of a castingmachine are relatively easy to maintain seals between channel membersand chamber members. Moreover, even though the invention provides forthe delivery to and from the casting wheel of coolant in separatechannels, all the coolant passes to and from the casting wheel withinthe shaft means so that the casting machine is relatively uncomplicatedand so that no easy to damage fittings are exposed.

These and other features and advantages of the invention will be moreclearly understood from the following detailed description and theaccompanying drawings in which like characters of reference designatecorresponding parts throughout and in which:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of the casting wheel and the casting wheelsupport of a casting machine embodying the invention disclosed herein;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the coolant exchange area of thecasting wheel support shown in FIG. 1.

These figures and the following detailed description disclose a specificembodiment of the invention but the invention is not limited tothedetails disclosed since it may be embodied in other equivalent forms.

The invention disclosed herein is a casting machine 10 which is onlypartially shown in the figures and described herein because it isgenerally conventional. Moreover, the invention will be clearlyunderstood by those skilled in the art once the casting Wheel 11 and thecasting wheel support 12 of a casting machine 10 embodying the inventionis understood. Accordingly, only the casting wheel 11 and the castingwheel support 12 of a casting machine 10 embodying the invention areshown in the figures and described herein.

In that embodiment of the invention disclosed herein, the casting wheel11 includes an annular member 13 having a peripheral groove 14 closed bya band 15 in conventional manner. The annular member 13 is positionedbetween a disc plate 16 and a ring plate 17 and has a plurality ofcoolant channels 18'formed within it adjacent the peripheral groove 14.It will be understood that molten metal (not shown) within theperipheral groove 14 will be solidified by the transfer of heat from themolten metal through the annular member 13 to coolant (not shown) withinthe coolant channels 18.

The casting wheel support 12 includes a shaft means 19 rotatably mountedin bearing members 20 and 21 which are in turn positioned on a supportframe 22. A mounting plate 23 is positioned on the shaft means 19 andthe shaft means 19 is inserted through an aperture 24 in the disc plate16 with the mounting plate 23 bolted or otherwise attached to the discplate 16. Thus, rotation of the shaft means 19 results in rotation ofthe casting wheel 11. Rotation of the shaft means 19 is achieved bymounting a worm gear 25 on the shaft means 19 to be driven by a worm 26which is in turn driven in conventional manner by a power source (notshown).

In a casting machine 10 embodying the invention disclosed herein, theshaft means 19 is hollow and terminates at that end most distant fromthe casting wheel 11 in the interior 27 of 'an inner chamber member 28fixedly positioned on the support frame 22. The shaft -means 19 extendsinto the inner chamber member 28 through an aperture 29 and a sealingelement 30 provides a liquid-tight seal at the aperture'29 between thestationary inner chamber member 28 and the rotating shaft 3 means 19. Itwill be understood that the interior 19 of the shaft means 19 iscontinuous with the interior 27 of the inner chamber members 28.

A disc member 31 having a plurality of radial channels 32 continuouswith the interior 19 of the shaft means 19 is positioned at that end ofthe shaft means 19 which extends through the aperture 24 in the discplate 16. Extending through the disc member 31, the shaft means 19, andthe inner chamber member 28 is a hollow first channel member 33. Thefirst channel member 33 is fixedly positioned within the disc member 31for rotation with the disc member 31 and the shaft means 19 and isrotatably supported in the inner chamber member 28 by bearing members34' in a bearing housing 34 positioned within the inner chamber member28 and into which the first channel member 33 is inserted through anaperture 35 having a sealing element 36 which provides a liquid-tightseal at the aperture 35 between the stationary bearing housing 34 andthe rotating first channel member 33.

The first channel member 33 extends from the bearing housing 34 andoutwardly of the inner chamber member 28 through an aperture 37 having asealing element 38 and terminates within an intermediate chamber member39. The sealing element 38 provides a liquid-tight seal at the aperture37 between the stationary bearing housing 34 and the rotating firstchannel member 33. At its other end extending through the disc member31, the first channel member 33 is closed by a cap 40 and has radialchannels 41. It will be understood that a radial channel 41 iscontinuous with the interior 42 of the first channel member 33 which isin turn continuous with the interior 43 of the intermediate chambermember 39.

Extending fixedly through the cap 40- and within the first channelmember 33 and the intermediate chamber member 39 is a second channelmember 44 having that end extending beyond the intermediate chambermember 39 rotatably supported in a bearing and sealing element 45positioned within an aperture 46 in the intermediate chamber member 39.The bearing and sealing element 45 provides a liquid-tight seal at theaperture 46 between the stationary intermediate chamber member 39 andthe rotating second channel member 44 and that end of the second channelmember 44 extending beyond the intermediate chamber member 39 terminateswithin an outer chamber member 47 fixedly positioned on the intermediatechamber member 39. It will be understood that the interior 48 of thesecond channel member 44 and the interior 49 of outer chamber member 47are continuous. Moreover, it will be understood that the channel members33 and 44 are positioned coaxially with the shaft means 19 and that theshaft means 19 and the plurality of channel members 33 and 44 serve todefine a plurality of annular channels 50' and 51, and a circularchannel 52 of varying length. The annular and circular channels 50, 51,and 52 are terminated at their ends adjacent the casting wheel 11 by thedisc member 31, the cap 40-, and a tube fitting 53 respectively and attheir other ends in the inner chamber member 28, the intermediatechamber member 39, and the outer chamber member 47 respectively.

In addition, it will be understood that even though the shaft means 19and the plurality of channel members 33 and 44 rotate with the castingWheel 11, a liquid-tight seal is provided between the annular andcircular channels 50, 51 and 52 and the interiors 27, 43, and 49 of thestationary chamber members 28, 39, and 47' respectively. Thus, a coolantexchange area 55 is provided for the exchange of coolant between movingelements and stationary elements of the casting wheel with onlyrelatively simple and easy to maintain sealing elements such as thesealing elements 30, 36, 38, and 45 being required to prevent the lossof coolant.

The specific arrangement of the annular and circular channels '50, 51,and 52 relative to the coolant channels 18 of a casting wheel 11 andrelative to various conventional sources of coolant (not shown) willdepend upon the operating conditions of the casting machine 10. However,in that embodiment of the invention disclosed herein, the circularchannel 52 is joined through the tube fitting 53 and a tube member 56 tothe coolant channel 18a, the annular channel 51 is joined through tubefittings 57 and tube members 58 to the coolant channels 18b and 180, andthe annular channel 50 is joined by tube fittings 59 and tube members 60to all of the coolant channels 18. Thus, with the supply of coolant tothe interior 49 of the outer chamber member 47 and of coolant to theinterior 43 of the intermediate chamber member 39 through supply pipes59 and 60, coolant will be delivered to the coolant channel 18aseparately from the coolant channels 18b and and will pass from all ofthe coolant channels 18 to the interior 27 of the inner chamber member28 for return to the coolant supply (not shown) through a discharge pipe61.

-It will be understood that the number of separate coolant paths whichmay be simultaneously provided to and from a plurality of coolantchannels 18 in a casting Wheel 11 is dependent only upon the number ofannular and circular channels 50, 51, and 52 provided by an embodimentof the invention and that this is in turn dependent simply upon thenumber of channel members 33 and 44 coaxially positioned within theshaft means 19. It will also be understood that regardless of the numberof channel members 33 and 44, there is a chamber member 28, 39, and 47positioned along the axis of rotation of the shaft means 19 in whicheach of the channel members 33 and 44 terminates and with respect towhich the channel member 33 or 44' rotates. However, it will also beunderstood that regardless of the number of annular and circularchannels 50, 51, and 52 within the shaft means 19, the casting machine'10 is relatively compact and free from damage which would cause loss ofcoolant.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that many variations maybe made in the embodiments chosen for the purpose of illustrating thepresent invention without departing from the scope thereof as defined bythe appended claims.

What is claimed as invention is:

1. In a casting machine having a casting wheel with a plurality ofcoolant channels adjacent a peripheral groove in which molten metal isreceived, hollow shaft means for rotating said casting wheel about theaxis of rotation of said shaft means; a plurality of hollow channelmembers positioned within said shaft means for rotation with saidcasting wheel and having their interiors operatively joined to saidplurality of coolant channels; and coolant means for supplying coolantto the interior of each of said channel members; said coolant meansincluding a plurality of hollow chamber members fixedly positioned insequence along said axis of rotation of said shaft means and each withits interior continuous with the interior of one of said channelmembers.

2. The casting machine of claim 1 in which that one of said channelmembers having the smallest diameter is of greater length than saidshaft means and others of said channel members and terminates at one endin the interior of that chamber member most distant from said castingwheel.

3. The casting machine of claim 2 in which said one of said channelmembers is extended at its other end beyond said shaft means and saidothers of said channel members.

4. The casting machine of claim 3 in which the interior of said one ofsaid channel members is operatively joined at said other end to one ofsaid coolant channels by a tube member.

5. The casting machine of claim 4 in which the interior of said shaftmeans terminates in the interior of that chan ber member least distantfrom said casting wheel.

6. The casting machine of claim 5 in which the interior of said shaftmeans is joined by a tube member to all of said coolant channels.

7. In a casting machine having a casting wheel in which a metal iscooled by a cooling means as the casting wheel rotates about an axis ofrotation, a shaft and a channel member positioned relative to each otherto form a plurality of channels which are substantially concentric witheach other about the axis of rotation of the casting wheel and each ofwhich is operatively connected to the cooling means for the flow of acoolant through it between the cooling means and one of a plurality ofseparate coolant receiving chambers which are formed by a chamberforming means and which are positioned in sequence along the axis ofrotation of the casting wheel.

8. In a casting machine having a casting wheel in which a metal iscooled by a cooling means as thecasting wheel rotates about an axis ofrotation, chamber forming means for forming a plurality of coolantreceiving chambers positioned in sequence along the axis of rotation ofthe casting 20 wheel, and channel forming means for forming a pluralityof channels which are concentric with each other about the axis ofrotation of the casting wheel and each of which operatively connects thecooling means to one of the plurality of coolant receiving chambers.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,206,930 7/1940 Webster 164278 X2,561,636 7/1951 Pyk 16487 X 2,710,433 6/1955 Properzi 164-283 X2,749,584 6/1956 Fey et a1 164278 2,816,344 12/1957 Pisoni 164283 X2,865,067 12/1958 Properzi 164-278 3,318,369 5/1967 Bray et al 164--283FOREIGN PATENTS 536,316 1/1957 Canada.

J. SPENCER OVERHOLSER, Primary Examiner.

R. SPENCER ANNEAR, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 164283

